The Eastern Sierra Towns to Trails Plan effort seeks stakeholder input. “Towns to Trails” will identify a multi-use trail network that will connect Eastern Sierra communities to each other and to public lands throughout the region as well as to destinations south and north.  

On September 13, 2023, the planning team will be holding an in-person stakeholder meetings to discuss trail opportunities, explore potential alignments, and identify connections between communities and surrounding public lands. Opportunities and challenges derived from these discussions will be utilized in subsequent trail planning efforts and shared in a forthcoming series of stakeholder meetings. 

In 2021, the Towns to Trails project was identified as a regional sustainable recreation priority by Eastern Sierra recreation stakeholders and land managers as part of the “Sustainable Recreation & Tourism Initiative.”  Since that time the Eastern Sierra Council of Governments applied for and received a Sierra Nevada Conservancy grant for this project.

The Eastern Sierra Towns to Trails Plan will identify a multi-use network that will connect Eastern Sierra communities to each other and to public lands throughout the region as well as to destinations south and north such as Lake Tahoe. The project parallels the Eastern Sierra escarpment (west of Highway 395), from northern Alpine County, through Mono County, and on into southern Inyo County, a distance of approximately 200 miles. 

The Eastern Sierra region is characterized by dramatic landscapes, sweeping open spaces, and superb outdoor recreation opportunities made possible through the unusually high percentage of publicly owned and managed lands. The trail network may cross multiple jurisdictions and lands managed by multiple entities, including the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Inyo National Forest, Bureau of Land Management, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. 

The Trails Plan will build upon existing trail and soft-surface infrastructure in the region and will take advantage of existing priorities for trail connectivity already developed by federal land managers along with stakeholder ideas generated through the “Recreation Stakeholders” track of the Sustainable Recreation and Tourism Initiative. The planning process will feature county by county collaborative planning efforts that will include tribes, relevant land managers, stakeholders, and local agencies.  

The Towns to Trails effort was initiated in December 2022 and expects to deliver the final trails plan in December 2024. 

Funding for this project has been provided by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, an agency of the State of California, under the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access For All Act of 2018 (Proposition 68).

The meeting will be held at the Turtle Rock Park Community Center, 17300 State Route 89 in Markleeville from 5:30-7:30 p.m. There are also in-person meetings in Inyo and Mono Counties.

Registration is recommended.  Each session will be similar in format, exploring strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats related to trails within each specific county.

For more information including registration links, visit http://www.townstotrails.org or email info@townstotrails.org.